Snow, ice pellets and freezing rain are hitting Central and Atlantic Canada, causing extensive delays on the road and in the air during one of the busiest travel weekends of the year and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands, possibly until Christmas Day.
Southern Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes are all affected by the massive weather system, which is coating much of the landscape in ice.
The storm, which stretches from southwestern Ontario to the Atlantic Coast, is suspected to have been a factor in three fatal highway accidents in Quebec on Saturday, and another in Ontario.
Dark Christmas?
Outages affecting an estimated 350,000 hydro customers were reported in Ontario, including 250,000 in the Greater Toronto Area, as ice-coated tree branches snapped, pulling down power lines.
Toronto Hydro said in a series of tweets that there are more than 90 "large-scale outages" throughout the city and it could take up to 72 hours to get everyone reconnected.
"You could be in the dark for Christmas," said CBC's Louise Martin, who also said there were numerous reports of transformers blowing out across Toronto due to the ice.
Toronto Hydro said the number of outages may rise as winds pick up mid-morning.
Hour-long delays were reported Sunday morning along some GO Transit bus routes, and all streetcar service in Toronto is suspended. Provincial police are strongly advising people not to drive unless it's absolutely necessary.
Hydro Quebec says nearly 29,000 customers are without power, mainly in the Estrie and Monteregie regions. There are only about 240 customers affected in Montreal.
NB Power reports 3,800 customers without electricity, with more than 3,600 in St. Stephen.
Flight cancellations, delays
CBC reporter Sherry Aske said from Macdonald-Cartier International Airport in Ottawa that there were substantial cancellations and delays in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. "Basically no matter where you are in the [eastern half of the] country right now, if you're travelling between Canadian cities there's a very good chance you're going to have some headaches this morning," she said.
Aske said scheduled flights from Montreal and Toronto couldn't arrive in Ottawa Saturday night, causing a backlog on Sunday. The weather also means the usable part of the runway is shorter, forcing the airline to bump passengers from planes that are required to be lighter for safe takeoff.
Passengers are being advised to check their flights before heading to the airport.
CBC meteorologist Janine Baijnath said the storm is so large that the type of precipitation varies widely. Environment Canada's warnings include freezing rain, snowfall, rainfall and winter storm, depending on the area.
In Montreal, where there is a winter storm warning in effect, CBC reporter Mathieu Dion said Highway 40 was little used Sunday morning, and vehicles on it were moving slowly.
"The road conditions are really terrible right now," he said.
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